Badgers take no break from giving backMembers of Wisconsin football team visit Madison-area youth in three appearances

June 10, 2013

MADISON, Wis. -- While the Wisconsin football team has been on break following the conclusion of the spring semester, some members of the team have not taken any time off from giving back.

Seven UW players rallied together to make three community appearances last Tuesday, June 4, visiting two local elementary schools and the Boys and Girls Club.

Chris Borland, Sam Arneson and Eric Steffes started the day with a visit to an all-school assembly at Elvehjem Elementary School on Madison's East Side. There they talked to the students about the perks of being a Badger and the hard work and responsibility it took to make it to the big stage.

"After speaking and fielding questions at an assembly and visiting classrooms, it was clear the school has some energetic and bright students," Borland said. "I hope we were able to inspire them and bestow some useful advice."

"Their rapport with the kids and how they conducted themselves is a tribute to the caliber of student-athletes that represent the Badger football program," Elvehjem principal Craig Campbell said.

Later that afternoon, UW teammates Kyle French and Jeff Lewis traveled to Horizon Elementary School in Sun Prairie to speak to a fifth grade class on the importance of academics.

"We told them that you should always set your goals high and keep working to achieve them," French said.

To conclude the day, Beau Allen and Kyle Costigan visited the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County. After sharing a few words on the importance of hard work and responsibility, the self-proclaimed "big kids" played basketball, football and hula-hoop in the gym with the local youth.

"Going to the Boys and Girls Club was honestly the most fun I've had in a long time," Allen said. "Experiences like that remind me that I'm really just a big kid."

The Wisconsin football program is no stranger to giving back. During the 2012-13 academic year, the Badgers volunteered more than 785 hours to improving the community and made appearances at 68 events throughout the Madison area.